A variety of food-grade adhesives are generally known in the relevant arts to have various degrees of utility in applications where substantially non-self-adherent comestibles are to be cojoined. In the vast preponderance of these applications the food-grade adhesive is utilized to secure a relatively fine particulate food to a proportionately much larger food substrate. Typical of this kind of application is the use of a food-grade adhesive in securing salt or other particulate flavouring compositions to the exterior surfaces of nut meats.
The resulting products may then be used either as is or following further processing, again as is typified by nut meat products which may be subsequently roasted prior to packaging for sale to the public.
Known food-grade adhesives include aqueous solutions of honey (U.S. Pat. No. 4,161,545), corn syrup (U.S. Pat. No. 4,053,650), various gums (see any of U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,053,650; 3,314,800; 4,501,758), sugars (see U.S. Pat. No. 3,063,843), starch (UK patent specification No. 1404887 or U.S. Pat. No. 4,308,289), vital wheat gluten (see U.S. Pat. No. 3,314,800), and various dextrins. Dextrins are taught in the art as having superior adhesive characteristics as expressly set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 3,740,236 at column 2 line 64 through 67.
Mixtures of various of the foregoing are generically disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,501,758, which makes general reference in column 2 line 7 through 10 to an aqueous mixture of sugar together with an adhesive selected from: various gums or corn syrup solids or dextrins or mixtures thereof. This same patent discloses that although sugar has some minor adhesive property its principal contribution in an adhesive application is as a browning aid during subsequent nut roasting. At lines 27 and 28 of column 2, U.S. Pat. No. 4,501,758 confirms the disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 3,740,236, in disclosing that the adhesive qualities of the dextrins are preferred over the other above mentioned adhesives and combinations thereof.